The reason I’m re-visiting this post is because Ghibli Studios has been dutifully updating the catalog with additional layouts from every feature film they’ve released since the exhibition, like The Tale Of Princess Kaguya ( below ). As such, the book is now quite a bit thicker than when it was first released back in 2008, during which Ponyo was released.

The exhibition catalog is one of the best Ghibli art books ever released, because it covers every major ( and some minor ) anime that the studio has released and really highlights the extensive visual artistry of the films.

Layout boards from From Up On Poppy Hill (above) and The Wind Rises ( below ) are some of the latest additions to the already jumbo sized book.

The catalog is usually only available from the bookstore located inside the Ghibli Museum, but sellers on Amazon Japan and Amazon.com do carry them too.

I should mention at this juncture that there are different editions on sale and the sellers do not always indicate which edition it is. That said, even a copy of the earliest edition is packed full of the wonders of Ghibli’s anime art.

I read elsewhere that there was a newer edition with more pages and a slightly different cover that came out at the French Ghibli exhibition called “Dessins du Studio Ghibli”. I didn’t know they were updating the catalogue for the Japanese edition. I wish it was easier to differentiate and buy the new one. 🙁